Combination Vaccine for 6 week Old Infants Approved by FDA

The FDA has just approved Menhibrix, a combination vaccine manufactured in Belgium that is to serve as protection against two bacterial diseases. FDA says that infants between the ages of 6 weeks through 18 months can take this new combo vaccination, as it is effective in preventing disease caused by Neisseria meningitidis serogroups C and Yand Haemophilus influenzae type b:

Combination Vaccine for 6 week Old Infants Approved by FDA

Diseases caused by the bacteria Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcal disease) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib disease) can be life-threatening. These bacteria can infect the bloodstream causing sepsis, and the lining that surrounds the brain and spinal cord causing meningitis. In young children, Neisseria meningitidis andHaemophilus influenzae type b are important causes of bacterial meningitis.

Without vaccination, children younger than two years are susceptible to these serious illnesses. Meningococcal and Hib diseases are particularly dangerous because both diseases often progress rapidly and can cause death or serious, long-lasting health consequences such as blindness, mental retardation, or amputations. Early symptoms for both diseases often are difficult to distinguish from other common childhood illnesses.

Neisseria_meningitidis- courtesy of The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library

“With today’s approval of Menhibrix, there is now a combination vaccine that can be used to prevent potentially life-threatening Hib disease and two types of meningococcal disease in children. It is the first meningococcal vaccine that can be given starting as young as six weeks of age,” said Karen Midthun, M.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The effectiveness of Menhibrix was based on immune responses in several hundred U.S. infants and toddlers vaccinated with Menhibrix. For the Hib component of the vaccine, immune responses in infants and toddlers following vaccination with Menhibrix were comparable to immune responses in infants and toddlers who received an FDA-approved vaccine against invasive Hib disease. read more:

How many people get meningococcal disease each year?

Meningococcal disease strikes 1,400 to 3,000 Americans each year and is responsible for approximately 150 to 300 deaths. Adolescents and young adults account for nearly 30 percent of all cases of meningitis in the United States. Approximately 100 to 125 cases of meningococcal disease occur on college campuses each year, and five to 15 students will die as a result. read more

Types A and C “Neisseria meningitidis” are the types that cause most disease in preschool children and teenagers in the United States.

Although many people get bacterial meningitis in the United States, it is not a common disease in this country. When it occurs here it is usually in isolated cases; clusters of more than a few cases are uncommon. Widespread epidemics of “Neisseria meningitidis” occur regularly in other countries, such as Africa. The biggest wave of “Neisseria meningitidis” outbreaks ever recorded was in West Africa in the year of 1996. There was an estimated 250,000 cases, and 25,000 people died.

Is this new combination vaccination indeed safe to give an infant at 6 weeks old or even necessary? And what (if any) reactions which are unforeseen now, could perhaps pose dangers when combined with the other multitude of vaccinations we are now giving our children? Even though studies and research has been conducted for Menhibrix, can we really know the long term effects of this new vaccination? What exactly are the risks?

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Comments

This issue really hits home because my nephew contracted this devastating disease in his first year of college/ Lost his hands as well as legs. Fast forward 10 years and his kidneys are now shutting down.
There is currently a vaccine for bacterial meningitis in the US and I urge anyone going away to college in September to get it without question…. It is a real pain to get and my BlueCross/BlueShield would not pay for my daughter om 2001. It is worth getting no matter what the cost is. I will pray that this vaccine helps prevent this. No one should ever have to suffer like this.
Thanks for a good post! Hope many will share this.